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‘David's Sling’, ‘Arrow’, ‘Iron Dome’: How Israel intercepted Iran's 200 missiles
Iran launched nearly 200 missiles on Israel on Tuesday as a retaliation to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Iran fired around 200 missiles into Israel on Tuesday evening as a retaliation to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, escalating the years-long conflict between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies and triggering a bigger war in the Middle East. Seconds into the attack, Israel put up its anti-missile system to intercept Iran and sounded air raid sirens as residents scrambled into bomb shelters. Follow live updates
Israel has been intercepting missiles through the ‘Iron Dome’ air defence system, which was built to intercept frequent incoming unguided short-range rockets fired by Hezbollah and Hamas. However, Iran's ballistic missiles were fired at a much higher altitude - which pushed Israel to put up different intercept systems such as the ‘David' Sling’ and ‘Arrow 2 and 3’.
The two systems, along with the ‘Iron Dome’, were last used by Israel in April last year to intercept more than 300 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles launched by Iran.
Let's take a detailed look at the multi-layered air defences used by Israel:
Iron Dome
Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with US backing, the ‘Iron Dome’ became operational in 2011. It was specifically designed to intercept frequent incoming unguided short-range rockets fired by Hezbollah and Hamas.
The system determines whether a rocket is on course to hit a populated area. If not, the rocket is ignored and allowed to land harmlessly.
‘Iron Dome’ was originally billed as providing city-sized coverage against rockets with ranges of between 4 and 70 km (2.5 to 43 miles). However, according to experts, this has since been expanded.
A naval version of the Iron Dome to protect ships and sea-based assets was deployed in 2017, reported Reuters.
Also read: Iran says it has ‘finished attack on Israel’ amid fears of spreading Middle East conflict
David's Sling
The mid-range 'David's Sling' system is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles fired from 100 km to 200 km (62 to 124 miles) away. Developed and manufactured jointly by Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the US RTX Corp, formerly known as Raytheon, 'David's Sling' is also designed to intercept aircraft, drones and cruise missiles.
Arrow 2 and 3
The long-range ‘Arrow 2’ and ‘Arrow 3’ interceptors were developed by Israel with an Iranian missile threat in mind. The systems are designed to engage threats both in and outside the atmosphere, and they operate at an altitude that allows for the safe dispersal of any non-conventional warheads.
State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries is the project's main contractor, while Boeing Co. is involved in producing the interceptors.
Meanwhile, Israel has vowed to retaliate to Iran's attack, saying it would respond at the “time and place of its choosing”. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the missile attack was a failure and that Iran would soon learn a painful lesson, just as its enemies in Gaza, Lebanon and other places have learned.
“Whoever attacks us. We attack them,” he said.
Iran, however, also warned that it would carry out “crushing attacks” against Israel if it retaliated to the missile attack.
(With inputs from Reuters)
